Ulmir’s Domain, Faery Plains: First Day of the Great Hunt.

The Faery Plains were vast. Travelling from one end to the other would take at least two weeks. Alternatively, travelling vertically towards the Altar was harder than most believe. Given the amount of provisions champions were provided, if one were to run through the area, they’d exhaust all their water reserves before reaching the Altar. The plains were flat and green.

One could see Ulmir’s Castle towers in the horizon. Ulmir’s domain was a flat circle with the castle in the middle. Each of the four zones was shaped like a giant triangle leading to the center. Crossing the triangle horizontally would take a tremendous amount of time. Going straight to the center of the circle was the wisest and fastest approach.

‘The imperialists must have already made their move towards the vein. I just hope they didn’t land too far from here,’ Zedd thought as he walked around the green plains. Faeries inhabited the place. They were vicious beasts when angered. Nobody dared killing them. According to legend, they were Ulmir’s servants. If a champion died in Ulmir’s Domain, their souls would be embedded into the countless Faeries Ulmir creates. They were his soldiers for the upcoming war against the Devil.

Zedd had a great affinity with Fairies. The ones he had under his control were different from the ones that inhabited Ulmir’s Faery Plains. The little creatures Zedd employed had no offensive capabilities. They were mainly used for intelligence gathering and combat support. They looked like butterflies, except for the transparent wings they had.

The ones flying above Black Eyes were a different, evil version of the Fairies known in popular folklore. They were as big as a regular human, but that was the only feature both races shared. They had wings and arms. At the end of their long hairy arms, Zedd could see nasty spikes claws. Their strong legs were muscular. Each one was larger than their torso. One kick could shatter bones.

The most hideous feature of the Faeries though was their faces. They had deer muzzles and large antennae. Their eyes were oblong, like that of a snake. Their long sharp fangs could be seen glistening against the shining sun. “Who would create such hideousness?” Zedd said out loud. “Ulmir’s time ended centuries ago. The one controlling these beasts now has no sense of class or beauty.” Zedd was disgusted by the flying monsters he witnessed.

“Let’s see how I’d fare against one of them.” Zedd unsheathed his sword then hurled it at one of the flying monsters. A deafening screech traveled though the flat plains. The Faery was impaled by Zedd’s sword then fell. As the flying monstrosity approached the ground, Zedd shouted “Zeus.”

Lightning enveloped the Faery, burning it to a crisp. Zedd ran towards the falling monster then shouted a spell. “Soul Trap!” The fairy was surrounded by a blue light. Right after that, the beast’s body started twisting inside the transparent blue sphere of light. Its burnt skin started crumbling, peeling until only its flesh was visible.

A dark substance started oozing out of the beast. It was neither liquid nor solid. If one were to touch it with their bare hands, the substance would vanish without a trace. Zedd raised his arms forward then shouted “Absorb!”

The dark substance flew out of the beast and toward Zedd. Before the dark pile of smoke reached Zedd, he took out a fist sized diamond then led it in with the spell. “Time to disappear,” Zedd said then ran the opposite side of the Faery’s corpse.

Minutes later, other Faeries that were alarmed by their fallen comrade’s cry arrived. Even more screams and screeches filled the Faery Plains. Their cries expressed their grief at the fallen comrade and a vow for revenge. The message spread through the flat plains. No living creature would be kept alive. Once a Faery died, its comrades would kill everything in their path.

That was their way of exacting revenge. They don’t bother looking for the killer. They kill everyone present in the flat plains.

***

Far away from that spot, a team of six warriors turned around. “That sounds like trouble,” one of them announced.

“Someone was dumb enough to attack the Faeries,” another said.

“We need to get out of here,” another warrior urged. “The Faeries will go on an endless rampage. We’ll be dead before we reach the castle.”

“What’s the nearest area, Gavin?” a man in ebony armor asked.

“The Four Seasons, ten leagues to the east,” the man named Gavin answered. “Should I deploy the Mobeel Lieutenant Brahms?”

“How much time do we need?” Brahms asked.

“Five minutes,” Gavin answered as he fumbled in his heavy bag. He took out a small metallic orb, put a Crux against it then activated it. The orb started expanding. Its charcoal gray color started dimming, changing into a clear transparent gray.

“You heard the man,” Brahms shouted at the others. “Get in formation. Hold your ground until the Mobeel is deployed!”

***

‘So the imperials were in the plains after all,’ Zedd thought when his Fairies relayed the message. ‘It looks like they’re about to run away.’ Zedd sped up his pace. His running speed was three times faster than the average human. Despite his superhuman speed, Zedd wouldn’t reach the imperials before they deployed their Mobeel.

‘This works perfectly. I’ll let them taste another kind of defeat before I kill them all.’ Zedd had a habit of talking to himself. He loved devising his plans as if he was speaking to someone else. Somehow, he felt that discussing tactics with himself helped him review them, see if there were any miscalculations.

The Faeries were hard at Zedd’s heels. He was in an open flat field. There was nowhere for him to hide from the flying monstrosities. He ran past all the creatures that inhabited the Plains. He was too fast for them. The moment they caught a glimpse of him, he would have already disappeared from their sight. He was more worried about the flying cloud of Faeries behind him.

In the vast green plains, any monster that appeared on the Faeries’ way would be reduced to dust. They attacked in groups and sucked the life out of every living creature they encountered. Even the bone marrow was sucked out. Zedd knew of their might, but having a chance to kill just one was worth the risk.

By extracting the substance from the Faery, Zedd could enhance his sword even more. “Silver, did you locate the vein?” he asked. Silver was the name of one of Zedd’s four Alfa Fairies. They were the ones from which most other little creatures stemmed. During their creation, Zedd made sure to have each Alfa Fairy equipped with the right features.

Silver had three pairs of wings. The hind wings were shrunk in order to provide for more fluid navigation in the air. Zedd made the wings shrink to act as gyroscopes, which improved Silver’s maneuverability and speed. On top of their unique features, Alfa Fairies were of tremendous help to Zedd. They could empower him or heal him using their dust. If someone needed to weaken Zedd considerably, they’d have to eliminate his Alfa Fairies first.

An image of a stream reached Zedd’s mind. His mind was connected to all his creatures. They were the web and he was the spider, waiting for his prey to fall for his numerous traps. While the imperials were preparing their escape, Zedd was heading towards the Aether Vein they were ordered to drain.

Zedd had about twenty leagues to run. ‘The Faeries’ wrath should last at least two hours. The distraction I created should be enough,’ he thought as he ran at full speed towards the vein. ‘Rimbaldi has knowledge even I am jealous of. How does that old bastard get access to so much information?’

Rimbaldi was the lead scientist in an organization called HISC. Their emblem was a snake coiled around an apple. HISC had allied itself with the empire ever since Emperor Avourel Aurunn the First sat on the throne. Whatever Rimbaldi and his organization were planning, their interests would have been the same as the emperor’s. Zedd knew they were looking for a place called the Pathway. He couldn’t allow them to reach it, no matter the cost.

‘If I have to make my presence known to Avourel, then so be it,’ he thought as he ran at full speed towards the vein. ‘But I can’t allow them to use the vein here. Audrey, you’re a lifesaver.’

Screeches reached Zedd before the horde arrived. By the time the horde was in sight, Zedd had travelled ten leagues already. Behind him were at least two dozen Faeries. If he kept running, he’d cross another two leagues before the hideous creatures caught up to him.

Two leagues later, the Faeries descended on the man who caused chaos. Unfortunately for the flying monstrosities, Zedd didn’t have time to waste. He jumped on the first Faery that came at him then punched it hard enough to send it flying on the group behind it.

“Take that!” he shouted. That little surprise bought Zedd enough time to jump on a disoriented Faery and behead it. “There are too many of them,” he murmured as he jumped back down on the ground.

Realizing that their enemy was not ordinary, the Faeries split in two groups. The first dozen landed and surrounded the man, while the others stayed airborne.

“That complicates things.” Zedd two handed his sword, pointed it upwards then shouted “Zeus!” Lightning crackled around the weapon. In an instant, lightning spread all around Zedd. The man with black eyes stood in the middle of a lightning sphere.

One of the airborne Faeries plunged down towards him. Faeries didn’t care if they died trying to avenge their fallen comrades. Because killing another would only result in enraging the others even more. Not many of them ventured far away from the flat plains. Their duty was to protect the Aether vein.

Provoking the Faeries was akin to causing the apocalypse. Kill one of them and they’ll go rampaging for hours. Kill two of them and they’ll extend their slaughter to three days. Kill three of them and their fury will be unleashed to the world. Because of this, nobody had ever attempted to infuriate them. The myth that spread about their fury pushed people to fear them. If a Faery is attacked, everybody runs and hides away from the plains. Zedd’s plan relied on this detail.

As the Faery was about to hit the lightning sphere, Zedd created an opening large enough to accommodate the flying monster. He then closed the lighting prison as soon as the Faery was allowed inside. The Faery, disoriented, fell face first to the ground. Zedd didn’t lose time. He plunged his sword deep into the Faery’s chest. Despite their large and fearsome appearance, Faeries were weak to lightning.

The lightning element that coated the sword made piercing the beast’s tough hide easy. All the beasts surrounding Zedd let out deafening screeches. “Don’t think you’ve got me cornered!” Zedd shouted at the creatures. “I’m the one doing the execution today, not you!” Zedd shouted a spell at the dead Feary. The creature’s hide was peeled then burned off. When only the flesh remained, Zedd enveloped it with a blue light then started extracting the dark substance once more.

All Faeries shared a special connection through their Alfa. Their creator had made them that way. His realm was hiding something sinister. Only scary beasts like the Faeries were capable of keeping that secret buried. If a visitor wanted to access Ulmir’s secret, they’d have to summon the leader of the Faeries, Ulmir’s Watchdog. Zedd had to kill as many of the Watchdog’s kin as possible.

The faithful dog watched over Ulmir’s secret even after his death, hence the name. Overtime, people got used to referring to it as the Watchdog. For hundreds of years, the Wathdog had hidden itself in the depth of Ulmir’s Garden. The Hunt that happened every year was not important to the Alfa Faery.

After the Fearies finished screaming, they swarmed the lightning prison. Two Faeries instantly got charred then fell to the ground. All the other beasts stopped in their track. They’d realized the prison’s danger. Despite their monstrous looks and the stories told about them, Faeries weren’t the brightest of sentient monsters. But at the same time, their numerical advantage wasn’t something to underestimate.

All the Faeries took flight and observed Zedd’s cage from above. The one in front of the line looked at Zedd for what felt like an eternity. Zedd could tell that the Faeries were preparing something suicidal. In hopeless situations, the best course of action would be to ensure your enemy’s destruction, even if it takes you with him.

The Faery smiled at Zedd, revealing sharp fangs and two rows of teeth. It had oblong gray pupils. Zedd was taken aback by that hideous smile. He knew what that show of teeth meant. The Faery’s eyes changed to red. It instantly plunged on Zedd’s lightning cage, only to get cut and burned all over.

The moment the Faery died, another plunged at the cage. It landed in the same spot and met with the same fate as the previous one. Soon after, more Faeries started falling down. It rained Faeries that day. It took ten bodies to weaken the cage. The remaining Faeries let out a victorious cry then plunged again. At that moment, a bright light blinded the flying monsters. The first three in the line didn’t have enough time to react. A lightning bolt had pierced through them, killing them instantly.

“You presumptuous pieces of shit!” Zedd shouted. “You think I’d let you carry out your suicide plan without having any counter-measure?” Using Zeus, Zedd had blinded the creatures then sent a lightning bolt at them. The sword he had was unique. It could store up to three elements at once. Zedd could freely alternate between each element.

At that moment, six Faeries were flying above his head. The bolt he used to kill three of them was the last he could use of the lightning element. ‘This will make killing them harder.’ Zedd heard other loud screeches. Far away in the distance, more creatures were flying towards him. ‘I only have two minutes before reinforcements arrive! I guess there’s no choice.’

Zedd took out the diamond on which he stored the dark substance then strapped it to his belt. “Discord!” he shouted. The dark energy started leaking from the diamond then flew directly into Zedd’s sword. He horizontally swung the weapon towards the flying Faeries. A black shockwave filled the sky above Faery Plains that day. The flying creatures above Zedd were reduced to dust. The reinforcement that was heading their way was gravely injured. Most had lost more than one limb.

“Who dares threaten my master’s domain?” a high pitched voice rung through the Faery Plains. Earth started rumbling, and all the remaining Faeries in the flat plains screamed in unison.

“Oh shit! Time to run,” Zedd shouted. He unsheathed his sword, pocketed the diamond then ran towards the Aether vein. “We won’t fight yet Watchdog. I need you to get angry, frustrated.”